1 Led Zeppelin Reunion That Crashed Before it Took Off, and Robert Plant and Jimmy Page Didn’t Seem to Mind
Led Zeppelin broke up in 1980, but their music lives on. One rock star hated the band, but judging from concert tickets and album sales, he was in the minority. Fans (and record executives) clamored for Zep to get back together, but they never really entertained the idea. That might be because a Led Zeppelin reunion in the 1980s crashed before it took off.
Led Zeppelin reunited to play a disastrous Live Aid set in 1985
Drummer John Bonham’s death in 1980 effectively ended Led Zeppelin. Founding guitarist Jimmy Page once said there was no way to replace Bonham, and not just because of how he played.
The band held firm to the no-reunion stance until 1985. Page, singer Robert Plant, and bassist John Paul Jones played a mini set at Live Aid with the help of drummers Phil Collins and Chic’s Tony Thompson.
It did not go well.
The band’s signature songs, “Rock and Roll,” “Whole Lotta Love,” and “Stairway to Heaven,” hardly sounded like classics. Plant said that Led Zeppelin reunion was horrendous. Page blamed his band’s poor showing on Collins’ lack of prep time.
The Live Aid performance couldn’t hold a candle to Zep’s legendary live performances at their peak. Still, that didn’t stop the three surviving members from testing a Led Zeppelin reunion that crashed before it got off the ground.
1 Led Zeppelin reunion crashed, and Robert Plant and Jimmy Page didn’t seem to mind
Led Zeppelin’s Live Aid performance was a dud. That didn’t stop Page, Plant, and bassist John Paul Jones from trying again.
Jones assembled his former bandmates and Thompson at a Corsham, England studio in early 1986. The reunion went better than the forgettable Live Aid gig, but not by much.
As George Case writes in Led Zeppelin FAQ, Thompson left the rehearsals after he was injured in a car accident. Plant’s roadie subbed in on drums. Page and Plant didn’t have the same chemistry together as they did 10 years earlier, and the group found that picking up where they left off to be a major challenge.
“It was the most bristingly embarrassing moment, to have all that will and not knowing what to play,” said Plant, who contributed some bass parts while Jones played piano and Page guitar.
Jones found the sessions more fruitful, Case writes, but the bassist said Page wasn’t keen on rehashing the past.
“I don’t know if Jimmy was quite into it, but it was good. What I recall is Robert and I getting drunk in the hotel, and Robert questioning what we were doing. He was saying nobody wants to hear that old stuff, and I said, ‘Everybody is waiting for it to happen.’ It just fell apart from then.”
John Paul Jones describes the Led Zeppelin reunion he organized
Page and Plant at least gave a Led Zeppelin reunion a chance. It’s not a stretch to think they believed they had something to prove after Live Aid. Still, Zep 2.0 barely got off the ground before it crashed soon after.
The band eventually played together again
A full-blown Led Zeppelin reunion tour never happened, and it seems like it never will. Still, the surviving members got together to play together again after the Live Aid debacle.
Jone, Page, and Plant enlisted Jason Bonham, their former bandmate’s son, in 1988 when they played at Atlantic Records’ 40th anniversary celebration. That helped get the ball rolling on more Led Zeppelin or pseudo-Zep reunions.
Page and Plant toured and released their No Quarter album in 1994. That record focused on acoustic renditions of Led Zeppelin songs, plus a few new tunes. The guitarist and singer soon worked together again on 1998’s Walking Into Clarksdale.
Jones got the call nearly a decade later for the 2007 Led Zeppelin reunion (Jason Bonham played drums). That performance at London’s O2 arena saw the band play some songs live for the first time. Given how poorly things went the other times Led Zeppelin regrouped, that might have been the first time a nearly fully-fledged Led Zeppelin reunion satisfied its members.
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